State Auditor’s Office releases City of Seattle audit

Today the State Auditor's Office released an accountability audit of the City of Seattle, which included a review of the city's contract with Freedom Project and its subcontractor, King County Equity Now.

The audit determined the process the city used to award the contract was concerning. The audit resulted in a letter to city management, which outlined the issues auditors identified and their recommended improvements.

Because of the high level of interest in the subject, including Citizen Hotline referrals submitted to our Office, we are posting the management letter to our website here: Management letter: 1028934. The full audit report can be found here: Accountability audit report: 1028934.

State Auditor Pat McCarthy issued the following statement on the audit:

“While the process the City of Seattle used to award this $3 million contract did not technically violate the relevant rules, in my view, the city exercised only the bare minimum of accountability and transparency in this matter. Taking a few more steps to define the terms of the contract and justify the process used to award it could have addressed public concerns. In order to create trust in government, it is incumbent on public servants to establish clear, fair and open processes for the actions we take, especially when they use public dollars.”

Media inquiries: Kathleen Cooper, Director of Communications – Kathleen.Cooper@sao.wa.gov | 360-890-0751